(3 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)We are often forced to remove iOS apps due to limited iPhone space. Other times we accidentally delete an app on iPhone, misplace it while decluttering the Home Screen, or it seems to suddenly disappear on its own! But it doesn’t mean we’ve lost it forever. Here’s how to restore lost or deleted apps on iPhone.
- How to find hidden apps on iPhone
- How to find deleted apps on iPhone
- How to restore deleted apps on iPhone: the backup solution
- How to restore iPhone app settings, documents and data
- How to restore default apps on iPhone
How to find hidden apps on iPhone
Before trying to restore lost apps, check if you really did delete them from your phone in the first place. You could have accidentally removed them from your Home Screen. In this case, they are hidden in the App Library. Here’s how to unhide it and get an app back on your Home Screen iPhone:
Swipe Home Screens left till you see the App Library screen. Type the name of the app in the search bar. If the search is successful, press and hold the app icon until a drop-down menu appears, then tap on Add to Home Screen.
No luck with that method? Then read on for tips to restore deleted apps.
How to find deleted apps on iPhone
The App Store keeps track of all the apps you ever purchased or downloaded on the iPhone or iPad. This facilitates recovering lost or deleted iPhone apps in at least two ways: you can look for it in the Apple purchase history or look it up in the App store.
Apple purchase history
The most useful way to recover purchased apps is via the Purchased list. To do so, open the App Store and tap on the profile icon. Then press Purchased and go to Not on this iPhone tab. You see a list of all your previously purchased or downloaded apps that have since been removed or were never installed on this iPhone.
App Store
From within your iPhone, open the App Store and search for the app you are trying to reinstall. Then simply re-download it. For paid apps you have already purchased it might seem that you have to repurchase at first.
However, once you tap on the price and enter your Apple ID and password, you’ll get the following message which means that you can download the app for free.
How to restore deleted apps on iPhone
The backup solution
If you need to restore deleted apps that you haven’t found in your Apple purchase history, we at CopyTrans are ready to lend you a hand. Use CopyTrans Shelbee to restore apps from an iTunes backup. Where the hell am I supposed to take an iTunes backup, you are asking. iTunes backs up your iPhone every time you sync your device to it, or when you use this app to upgrade to the latest iOS version.
Locate the default folder of an iTunes backup on your PC and use the Custom restore option to retrieve only apps.
Follow the steps in this guide:
How to recover deleted apps on iPhone
But CopyTrans Shelbee is capable of so much more! This app allows you to:
✔️ selectively restore any data from an iPhone backup without overwriting all its other data;
✔️ change the default folder of an iTunes backup;
✔️ backup iPhone to an external hard drive;
✔️ make an incremental backup that will contain only the latest changes.
Later, when you are ready to restore the data, use the Full restore feature to restore iPhone without relying on iTunes OR click on Custom restore to do something iTunes will never let you do: choose what kind of data you would like to recover.
Backups created by CopyTrans Shelbee contain:
| ✅ SMS and iMessages | ✅ contacts | ✅ camera roll photos | ✅ calendar events and accounts |
| ✅ reminders | ✅ notes | ✅ apps documents | ✅ call history |
| ✅ accounts and passwords | ✅ settings | ✅ voice memos | ✅ Safari bookmarks, cookies and history |
How to restore iPhone app settings, documents and data
Often restoring lost apps is not enough if you don’t also recover the associated app preferences and documents. This is where it all becomes a bit blurry. Different apps store different amounts of app data on your iPhone and in the cloud.
Certain iPhone games such as Angry Birds or Clash of Clans store games progress in the Game Center. Unless you specifically removed this information upon deleting the app, the data and preferences will be restored upon re-installing the app.
Some apps, such as Pages, Numbers, and Keynote, are designed to store all associated documents and data in iCloud. If unsure, you can check which of your iPhone apps store documents and data in iCloud by going to Settings > iCloud > Manage storage.
When you restore the app, log in to your Apple account and activate iCloud sync, the app data will swap in.
After re-downloading an app from the App store, CopyTrans Shelbee restores apps documents, ratings and settings saved in the iTunes backup.
How to restore default apps on iPhone
If some of these apps are nowhere to be found on your iPhone, you either deleted them from your iPhone and can easily re-download them from the App Store using the method described above, or it means that usage of the applications has been restricted.
To enable the default iPhone apps back, navigate to Settings > General > Restrictions and toggle the switch next to each app to the ON position.
You can alternatively disable all restrictions in place by tapping Disable Restrictions.
Have more ideas on how to recover lost iPhone apps? Post your suggestion in the comments section below.
